Circus To Make Rare Stop In Town This Week

July 04, 1994|By ALIX BIEL; Courant Staff Writer

OLD SAYBROOK — Lions and tigers and bears (oh my) will roll into town this week, accompanied by elephants, dogs, horses and a human cannonball in what is billed as the world's largest traveling circus under the big top.

Clyde Beatty-Cole Brothers Circus, on its way from Boston to New York's Shea Stadium on a 115-city tour, will stop in town for the first time in decades for two shows a day on Wednesday and Thursday. The shows are expected to draw children of all ages to the Old Saybrook shopping center, where merchants hope they will spend some money.

A portion of advance ticket sales will go to the sponsoring groups, the merchants association and volunteer fire departments in Guilford, Madison, North Madison, Clinton, Westbrook, Old Saybrook, Old Lyme, Killingworth, Deep River, Essex and Chester. Tickets are being sold in advance at Sage Allen II in the shopping center for $10 for adults, $6 for children under 12 and adults over 62. Reserved chair seats cost $2 extra.

The fire departments' sponsorship is fitting for the event, circus spokesman Robert W. Harper said. July 6 marks the 50th anniversary of the circus fire in Hartford that killed 168 people. That show was Ringling Brothers, Harper was quick to point out.

But 50 years ago, fire safety at the circus was nothing like it is today -- especially in Connecticut, which has the strictest circus safety standards in the nation, Harper said. In the days of the Hartford fire, canvas circus tents were coated in paraffin and brushed with kerosene to make the big top shiny. Hay was stored under the seats and smoking was permitted.

``It was like a big accident waiting to happen,'' Harper said.

Clyde Beatty-Cole Brothers' big top is far safer, Harper said, and accommodates 3,000 spectators except in Connecticut, where safety standards require wider aisles that reduce the seating capacity. A team of elephants is scheduled to raise the five-story-high tent at dawn Wednesday in the shopping center.

``We want to create some good will in the area,'' said Randy Murallo, president of the merchants association and owner of Sage Allen II. ``We all want the same thing: for everyone to have a good time, to see the shopping center and to see a great show.''

The circus is the second in a series of summer events planned to draw tourists to the shopping center. Last month there was a boat show, and next month is a sidewalk sale. The Main Street Merchants' Association has planned its own sidewalk sale at the end of July.

``You draw everybody to the shore in the summer anyway,'' Murallo said. Old Saybrook is convenient to New Haven, 40 minutes travel time; New London, 30 minutes; and Hartford, about an hour.